January 2012

Dear Member,

This is the first month since 1989 that I haven’t written a monthly newsletter for our California wine program. Seems weird. I think I’ll continue to write a Member letter each month for the foreseeable future, sharing interesting things about the world of wine and Wine Concepts.

My wife Judy has decided that Tabatha, the resident wild turkey, has convinced herself that she is now a farm animal and that she needs to be fed daily. If we don’t put out fresh bird seed as soon as we get to work, she struts back and forth outside my window glaring at me. This complicates my plans for long road trips. Judy will insist we hire someone to feed the turkey every day. It will give one of those “house sitter” people an interesting addition to his or her resume. For the last two days, Tabatha has been joined by a quartet of raccoons each afternoon. What appears to be a mother and three youngsters have shown up about three o’clock and hang out for an hour or so and then leave for parts unknown. There’s so much going on outside my window its becoming hard to get any work done. Good thing I don’t have that much work to be done.

An interesting article appeared in the paper today. An extensive misconduct investigation that took three years and produced a 60,000 page report prompted the University of Connecticut to fire a researcher who studied health benefits of red wine. Dr. Dipak K. Dass was found guilty of 145 counts of fabrication and falsification of data. Can you imagine a 60,000 page report on anything? I would guess that in 60,000 pages you could report on everything! No reason was given as to why Dr Dass went to the trouble of writing all the false reports. Maybe we should start conspiracy rumors linking him to French Bordeaux producers seeking to extend the benefits of that “French Paradox” report on 60 Minutes twenty years ago.

We checked our files and couldn’t find a reference to Dr Dass in any of the articles we cited in our campaign to increase your wine shipments. Be now, we all know deep in our collective hearts that daily consumption of one or two glasses of wine is mandatory for a healthy, happy life. Now that you no longer receiver your monthly two pack, you might consider upping your International six pack to a full case. Or if you are a Connoisseur’s member, you can increase that quantity to four, six or twelve bottles a shipment. It would also be a good thing to be a member of both the
Connoisseur’s Selection and the International Wine Selection. Let us know and we’ll make it happen ASAP.

We don’t normally go to the Pennsylvania Farm Show to pick out the wines for our programs, but maybe we should reconsider. Cardinal Hollow Winery in Montgomery County featured several wines at the show including a non-grape variety made from 100 percent jalapeños. "It won't burn your eyes or your lips but it is warm," owner Christopher Boyd writes on the winery's website. "The aroma is just like the pepper and then once you sip it, it fills your mouth with the jalapeño flavor and warmth. As you swallow, you will feel the warmth all the way down." I guess if you can’t spend your winters in Florida you need something else to keep you warm.

Be sure to go to our webpage, www.wine-concepts.com and check out our wine specials. Each week or so, we lower the prices on a selection of wines, our Tuesday Specials. Additionally, we always have a limited number of End of Bin wines at drastically reduced prices. As the name suggests, these are wines with very limited availability...once they’re gone, there will be no more. While there, consider joining Connoisseur’s Selection or International Wine Selections if you are not already a member.

Russian River Valley wineries are up in arms about new regulations outlawing spraying grapes with water to prevent damage during Spring cold snaps. It seems that the state acted in response to a letter from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) which complained that the water diversion occasioned by the spraying had stranded “endangered salmonids” in area rivers. President Obama made a salmon joke in his State of the Union address last year: "The Interior Department is in charge of salmon while they're in fresh water, but the Commerce Department handles them when they're in saltwater," he quipped. "And I hear it gets even more complicated once they're smoked." And now with NOAA getting in the act, it become even more complicated if they’re swimming in th Russian River.

As always, we thank you for being a member of Wine Concepts for lo these many years. To those of you new to our International Wine Selections, we hope you enjoy your new club and stay with us for many years to come. If you like what you’ve seen, please encourage your friends and associates to join with us. For us to be the best wine club in the world, the wine club you deserve, we need your input. Our email address is wineconceptsinc@comcast.net, Give us a call at 800-749-9463, send a fax to 239-591-2840, or visit the website at www.wine-concepts.com. We want, we need to hear from you.

All the best for the coming year!